Menu

Celebrating ECU’s new Main Campus Student Center

Modern meets traditional at the intersection of East 10th and Charles streets in Greenville.

The new Main Campus Student Center is a you-can’t-miss-it 220,000-square-foot sprawling building that rises three stories and has enough glass on its exterior and interior to cover an entire football field.

The new Main Campus Student Center features a 24-by-42-foot Pirate Vision digital display. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

Years in the making, the building pairs cutting-edge technology – electrochromatic glass windows, or smart windows, that tint based on weather, for example, as well as hot-water coils under the floor for invisible heating – with time-honored Pirate roots such as the ECU creed on the main staircase and the outline of eastern North Carolina on the floor of the main ballroom, a nod to our home state with an X marking the spot for Greenville, of course.

Out front, lofty ‘ECU’ letters make a bold statement, welcoming Pirates and visitors to the new front porch and living room of the university.

ECU will welcome this beacon to its landscape with a week of celebratory events, including a grand opening at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7, complete with a ribbon-cutting, building tours, free food and gifts.

While the new Main Campus Student Center will open Monday, Jan. 7, more time is needed for construction, inspections and brand-specific training in the dining service areas. They are expected to open by the end of January.

What is open Monday, Jan. 7, the first day of classes? With the exception of the restaurants in the Main Campus Student Center, all dining service locations will resume normal operations. That includes both Todd and West End dining halls, Reade Street Market, the Croatan, The Galley, Wright Place, Starbucks, C3 Express and the food trucks.